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The Beats and This Aint the Rosedale |
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Literary Scene -
Write Around Town
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By: Deanna McFadden
November 2008
 After a visit to Curl Up and Dye in Kensington Market on Thursday, I was walking along Nassau Street when I came across the This Ain’t The Rosedale Library bookstore. It’s obviously been a while since I wandered around that particular street on foot because apparently the store had moved to Kensington last May. Anyway, the independent bookstore features loads of small press titles and has a lovely atmosphere just perfect for browsing the shelves.
After purchasing a copy of Mary Swan’s The Boys in the Trees, the hip-looking clerk placed some old-fashioned photocopied flyers in the books pages. The first was for an event with Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (on November 3rd) who was launching her novel So Many Ways to Sleep Badly. The second was a small flyer for a biggish workshop-slash-“Cultural Probe” about The Beat Generation:
“Who were The Beats and what is their cultural legacy? What is a Generation? Is it about coming home or going out on the road? Is there a connection between The Beats and Bob Dylan? Iggy Pop? Charles Bukowski? Coach House Press?”
The first meeting takes place on Monday November 3rd and the entire seminar series, which runs for six weeks, costs $75.00. The workshop/probe will be facilitated by the co-owner of This Ain’t The Rosedale Library, Charlie Huisken.
Immediately, images of smoking jackets and jazz floated in my mind as I pictured an entire group of people, men with goatees and faded, worn copies of On the Road sat beside women in black toting copies of Howl, talking away for hours about the lasting impact of the whole Beat movement on literature. Those are my kind of people. So if you’re out to do your weekend shopping and wandering around Kensington Market, don’t forget to wander out of the core and over to the iconic indie bookstore.
In other news, author and TV superstar Jamie Oliver will be in Toronto for two whirlwind events to promote his latest cookbook, Jamie at Home. He has two events in town: the first will take place at the Indigo at the Toronto Eaton’s Centre at noon on Thursday November 13th; the second will be at the Etobicoke Costco at 5:30pm on the same day. If you’re planning on attending either, I’d say get there early – just so you can make sure to get a good seat!
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